


A Hot Day In New Mexico

by Alpha_Writer



Series: The Little Coffee Shop of Horros [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Best Friends, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Friendship, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Science Bros, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-02 23:57:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10955415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alpha_Writer/pseuds/Alpha_Writer
Summary: Takes place years before the events in "Those Small Moments Add Up"Bruce didn't want to be part of the Gamma Experiments. Tony didn't want to make weapons anymore. They were both done being used. Never did they imagine on the day they decided to close of a big chapter in their lives, they would be starting a whole new book together.





	1. Chapter 1

It’s surprising that the shouting doesn’t bother him more than it does. It fills the entire room with its magnitude, wedging itself into the corners and vibrating off the walls. Bruce looks at General Ross. His face his almost purple with rage. The vein in his head throbbing painfully with the tension he’s built up.

Honestly it’s all white noise to Bruce. He walked in expecting all of this and more. Across the table Betty is watching him, her emotions warring between confusion and resignation. She hasn’t said a word to him since he announced his withdrawal from the project. He sees her disappointment and he knows that whatever relationship there was to salvage between them is now all down the drain.  
But Bruce has already made his peace with all of this.

The others at the committee meeting are all quiet. They seem content to let Ross do all the talking, or more accurately, yelling. Bruce knows that he’s just about lost whatever little credibility he had in the scientific community. Ross no doubt is going to make sure his name is all but black listed from every research facility in the northern hemisphere. Bruce can see it now, years of tireless studying burned to ashes.

Still, in his heart he knows that this is the right call.

He’s seen the work Ross and the military want him to do. He knows that on the off chance he succeeds in his experimentations, there is no telling what horrors Ross and other like him could do with it. Bruce knows he couldn’t live with himself if he created something that would do more harm than good. He isn’t that person anymore. He doesn’t want people to hurt because of his action.

It takes Ross slamming his hand down on the table in front of Bruce for him to finally return to the present. Ross’s face is inches away from his and the man in breathing heavily from his rant. The feint smell of whiskey lingers on his breath and Bruce does all he can not to recoil at the scent and the memories they dredge up.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself Dr. Banner?”

Bruce tries to recall the last five minutes of conversation but he just has the vaguest memory of yelling. Still, he doesn’t have to employ his genius to get the gist of what Ross was getting at. When he makes no attempt to answer Ross looks at his with complete disgust, the kind of look criminal and degenerates get.

Now Bruce could get angry too. He could rear up and roar his opinions back at the man standing in front of him trying to intimidating him with his military uniform and decorated chest. He could sweep the table clean and bang his fist against the top, spouting his own logic at the top of his lungs.

But Bruce does not do that.

He knows what his anger is capable of. He knows what _he_ is capable of.

He knows how to keep it in check. He knows that this isn’t the time nor place to prove he is just as much the son of Brian Banner as his looks indicate. So he clenches his fist under the table and counts wordlessly as he breathes in and out. And when he finally feels the tight knot of anger in his chest loosen he looks up at General Ross.

“I am sorry, but I cannot in good conscious go forward with this project.”

General Ross’s face looks like a ripe tomato. “Good?…..good conscious!” he sputters out, “Where the hell was that good conscious when you tried to blow up an entire school Banner?!”  
The rest of the room falls silent at that. Bruce flinches and ducks his head. Shame rearing up in his throat.

“Father…” but Ross does not acknowledge his daughter’s warning. He continues to stare down Bruce – daring him to do something, anything to get an excuse to probably throw a few punches in return.

“Huh Banner, where was that oh so pure conscious back then?” he taunts, “Finally developed a moral compass?”

Bruce holds on tightly to his rapid slipping calm. He knows that General Ross is just going to continue to bait him. He’s going to throw verbal hooked barbs at him until one sticks and he can pull and rip it out of Bruce. Anything to get his pound of flesh in return.

Religion and belief have never been at the fore front of Bruce’s life but he knows that there is God somewhere up there when one of the other members of the committee speaks up. Colonel Jacobs may just be a colonel compared to Ross’s General status but he holds enough influence in this situation to get Ross to stop talking.

“Dr. Banner,” he says calmly, “I hope you understand that the contract you signed at the beginning of your time with us clearly states that the U.S government would only fund your doctorate if you worked for us after it was completed. Seeing as you are now in breach of this contract you will have to replay all the money spent on you – with interest of course.”

Bruce knew this was coming. He never could have hoped to get out scotch free, it would have been a miracle. “How much time would I have to repay?”

“Not enough.”

Colonel Jacobs choose to ignore that jab from General Ross. “One year maximum.”

Bruce sighs, “And if I can’t?”

“Prison time!” Ross looks too pleased to inform Bruce of this. He can imagine it now. Ross would find a kind of sick delight in seeing him behind bars. He would probably do everything in his power to make sure Bruce went away for a very long time and in the worse prison possible.

“With that in mind Dr. Banner, do you still wish to go through with this?” Colonel Jacobs adds after Ross. The focus of the entire room is on Bruce now. Every pair of eyes is locked on him. Betty’s seem to be pleading with him to reconsider. To give up and join her on the project. General Ross looks absolutely feral. It’s as if he’s daring Bruce to go through with this. Colonel Jacobs is the only one who seems to think Bruce doesn’t need to be treated this badly. His eyes hold a soft, almost gentle look to them.

It’s almost tempting for Bruce to give in – to give Ross what he wants. Bruce knows that he is the only man on this planet qualified for this project. He’s a pioneer in his field and Ross knows this. That’s why, even if he has to intimidate Bruce, he’s going to make him stay.

But Bruce holds on to his resolve.

“No I do not wish to reconsider. I’m very sorry but you’ll have to find yourself a new physicist.”

“Bruce….” Betty shifts to get up from her chair but Ross stretches a hand out to stop her. She’s stuck in a limbo, torn between going to Bruce and obeying her father. In the end Betty sits back down her eyes still pleading with Bruce, begging him to reconsider, to drop all of this, to say he’s sorry and come back to the project with her.

It’s not enough for Bruce. No matter how much he thinks he loves Betty he can’t give up such a big piece of himself.

He was a coward once and his mother paid the price. He’s not going to be that small boy again. Even if it hurt he’s going to back away. Leave before the scars are too big to fade away.

“Alright Dr. Banner,” Colonel Jacob intones, “If you would please step out of the office while we discuss your situation.” Bruce doesn’t trust himself to speak again, instead he gave a stiff nod and willed his feet and legs to move. He moved on autopilot and went to the small waiting area outside the conference rooms. Immediately he sank down into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

Bruce slouched down and rested his head against the wall. He could hear shouting from the room he just vacated but it was muffled through the door. He could imagine Ross ripping him a new one.

Surprisingly that wasn’t the only room that was hosting a shouting match. The conference room adjacent to that was one was apparently hosting its very own competition. Bruce still couldn’t hear anything but he could safely say that the man in there could give Ross a decent run for his money. Bruce spared a moment to feel sorry for the sap who was on the receiving end of that tirade before focusing on his own situation.

Sighing, Bruce leaned forward and laid his head in his hands. He was so lost in his own void that he didn’t hear the door to the other conference room open and someone sit in the chair beside him.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony didn’t know how Pepper could sit there and listen to these old sacks of air speak day after day at board meetings. The minute they had stepped in the room Tony knew he disliked everyone sitting in there. Seven stiffly uniformed military men all over the age of sixty and not a single piece of brain power to be shared among them. It was as if they were all actively trying to piss Tony off.

Firstly they hadn’t stood when he and Pepper entered the room – and while many people might say that was Tony just being a huge pain in the ass – he couldn’t care less if it were him alone but Pepper deserved a little respect. No matter how much of a womanizer the tabloids made him out to be Tony had enough respect for woman that he stood when one entered a room, Jarvis made sure that was ingrained engrained in him at a young age.

And if that wasn’t enough, these idiots had the gull to give Pepper a mental dress down, running their eyes up and down her figure like she was not just named the new COO of Stark Industries.

Tony really had to give Pepper props. She barely batted an eye lash at the blatant disregard for her presence but he knew she was going to send them cowering when the meeting really started. And as if they couldn’t be hated anymore one of the suits, Tony didn’t bother to waste the brain power on remember his name, started to say, “Stark.”

Oh no no no. These attack dogs weren’t going to get the first say in this meeting, absolutely no way.

“Gentlemen let’s not waste time with the pleasantries. You know why I’m here so cut the bullshit and sign the papers.”

“Tony!” Pepper hisses at him. He should probably let her handle all the talking after all she can talk circles around him and Tony is the king of charmers. The seated generals and commanders and whoever they are, looked flabbergasted at Tony’s blunt way of talking. One of the younger men – probably still has a good two decades on Tony – gets up and plasters a staged smile on his face.

“Mr. Stark,” he starts before shooting a sideways glance at Pepper, “Ms. Potts, please why don’t we sit and discuss things amicably?”

Tony wants to give a biting retort but he gets a stinging look from Pepper that has him shutting his mouth. They both take the seats at the end of the table, as far away from their military counterparts as possible. Pepper places her designer brief case on the table and extracts a large pile documents. The brief case was a bride from Tony when he was convincing her to come to the meeting with him.

“Gentlemen, I want to thank you for seeing us on such short notice.” Pepper, ever the diplomat, begins to hand out the revised contract that the SI legal team drew up. The men at the table don’t look too pleased with the way the meeting is going so far.

“Mr. Stark what’s the meaning of this?” another one of the goons asks. If Tony wasn’t wearing his sunglasses they would have seen how his eyes narrowed at their disregard for Pepper’s presence once again. Pepper in all her brilliance takes everything in stride.

“To put in the simplest terms gentlemen,” she cuts across, a toothy smile in place that makes her look dangerous, “We are withdrawing all our military contracts. We are no longer in the arms business for the US Military.”

There is a pregnant pause after that. Then the other occupants of the room burst into laughter.

“You are joking right?” one of the Generals asks.

Pepper’s poker face is impeccable and it has the laughter dying down in seconds.

“This is absolute madness. Stark Industries has a multi-billion dollar contract with the US government.” another unnamed uniform offers, as if Tony and Pepper were not already aware of this.  
“And your point is?” Tony points out, desperate to get in as many jabs as possible.

“What is the meaning of this!?” This one has the name BG Thompson stitched on his shirt. So Tony assumes he’s got some weight to be attending this meeting. “Do you want more money Stark? Is that it?”

Tony clenches his fist under the table where they are resting on his lap. Pepper shoots him a warning glance telling him to let her handle this. He brought her here for this sole purpose and he needs to let her do her job for once.

“That isn’t the issue at all gentlemen.”

There are huffs of disbelief all around the room and Tony feels his ire rise. One of the uniforms takes the document that Pepper handed out earlier and flings it across the conference table and Tony patience begins to slip.

“Then explain to us what the issue is Ms. Potts.” BG Thompson prompts. “Because Stark Industries has always been an arms manufacturing company and they’ve supplied arms and ammunition to us for the last fifty years.”

Tony rolls his eye beneath his rose coloured sunglasses at the man’s petulant tone. What part of out of that business did they not understand? Sure Pepper was proficient in six different languages not including drunken talk and science binge speak, but the last he checked she spoken in plain English. Where these men just being dense for laughs?

“Gentlemen, we are simply…” Pepper began to explain before she was cut off.

“Mr. Stark where is Mr. Stane? He has been the military liaison since your father was running the company.”

Tony gritted his teeth at the display of arrogance and the mention of Obie’s name.

“He no longer represents us or speaks on behalf of the company.” Pepper was quick to diffuse the situation before Tony’s anger reared its ugly head. “Now as I was saying gentlemen SI is no longer in the business of manufacturing weapons. We plan to officially make the announcement in one week’s time but thought it appropriate to inform you all first. As such the documents handed out earlier gives clear detail of our severance package.”

“Pretty nice one if I do say so myself. Peps was very generous.” Tony couldn’t help but get in a word to these relics. Pepper would probably chew out his head for speaking out of turn later but it was worth it in his book. Frankly the package was a little too generous for Tony’s taste but Pep was the boss in this. So far she was doing a much better job than Obie.

“Does this have anything to do with that attempted threat on your life in Afghanistan?” one of the uniforms asked. Tony didn’t know who, the question barley registered in head. Pepper subtly moves closer to his seat but does not try to touch him. It takes Tony a moment to find his words since they are waiting for him to respond.

“Well I think that would be self – explanatory.” Tony says, no joking in his tone now.

“I don’t think it is.”

Tony pushes his chair back and stands so he doesn’t have to be on the same level as these men. He sees Pepper struggling between the urge to be by his side and maintain her professional demeanour. He shoots her an understanding look and sees her shoulder slump slightly.

“Not that it’s any concern of yours but I barely escaped with my life.” Tony starts in a solemn tone, “A dozen other men… good men, lost their lives in the process. And if that isn’t sad enough, you know what the worst part was?” There’s a pause and Tony wait for someone to dare interrupt him, when no one does he continues, “That when I came too there was a battalion of men with my guns point them at me. The very same guns that I supply to the US government!”

BG Thompson immediately stands up, “That is no fault of ours Stark!”

“It might, it might not.” offers Tony, “But I’m not taking any chances. Sometimes the best way to fix a problem is just to eliminate the cause entirely. I don’t want my weapon in the hands of militias, militaries, separatist gangs, revolutionist’s movement, absolutely no one. ”

“This is absolute madness. Your father would have never let something like this happen. He was a true patriot, unlike you Stark leaving us defenseless!”

“General Bridgson!” Tony would have heard Pepper gasp this out if there wasn’t a deafening ringing in his ears. He sees only red now but before he can so much as utter a single word Pepper is in his face grabbing on to his left hand in a death grip. “Tony.” she says and then repeats herself when he doesn’t answer the first time.

Tony drags his steely gaze away from the offending man standing at the head of the table and looks at Pepper.

When she finally has his full attention Pepper can see that he fuming inside but trying to keep it together. She feels her heart ache at the strained look on his face. She knows that if he stays in the room he will only fall deeper in to chasm that the words uttered by these men will be sure to create. “I need you to leave the room Tony.” she says calmly. Tony looks like he wants to argue but she silences him with one of her ‘don’t make me ask again’ looks. He spares one last withering glance at the men seated in the room before nodding in compliance.

“I’ll send Happy in to be with you.” he says before he leaves. The last thing he sees before he leaves the room is Pepper look of gratitude turn to one of complete defiance as she faces the gathered generals once more. Tony makes sure to slam the door on his way out of the room, wanting to at least make a dramatic exit if anything else.

However, he kind of regrets his actions when he sees that another man is sitting in the waiting area too. But the other man doesn’t seem to notice the banging, in fact he barely registers Tony’s presence as he seats himself in the chair beside him. The guy has got his head in his hand and Tony can hear shallow breathing. For once Tony chooses not to make a nuisance of himself. Instead he takes out his phone and shoots Happy a text telling him to go to the conference room and stay with Pepper.

It barely takes two minutes before Happy is striding through the hall giving Tony a nod before entering the room.

Tony sits still for long as he possibly can. He fiddles with his phone for a bit. Eventually he can’t stand the boredom and begins to tap his foot restlessly against the plain linoleum floor. They guy next to him still doesn’t seem to know Tony is there.

Suddenly there is loud shouting coming from the other conference and Tony actually flinches when it disturbs the silence.

“Damn I am actually sorry for the sucker in there.” Tony hadn’t meant to speak but it came out as reflex.

What was even more surprising was that the guy next to him began to chuckle and then it blossomed into a full blown belly laugh. For some reason this this brought a smile to Tony’s face. The guy turned to face him and honey brown eyes locked with chestnut brown ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BG - Brigadier General  
> Tony was not kidnapped in this one because for once Tony deserves a break.


End file.
